The invention relates to a process for the degradation of diterpenes contained by coffee grounds.
It is known in the state of the art that the value of coffee grounds may be enhanced in animal feed by supplementing the said animal feed at the desired concentration. The problem of coffee grounds are that it contains diterpene esters, such as cafestol, kahweol and isocafestol esters, which are known to be physiologically active. U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,581 already relates to a process for enhancing the value of coffee grounds, in which the said grounds are treated by saponification. The disadvantage of this process is that the diterpenes remain in free but nontoxic form in the mass, which may lead to tendentious interpretations as regards the efficiency of the detoxification process. Moreover, in saponification, the calcium salt used blocks the fatty acids which are therefore no longer available, reducing the nutritional value of the coffee grounds obtained.